a pirate's life for me.

happy monday. :)
its finally a new week and, hopefully, with it will come a new slate. I'm putting the negativity of my nightmare week behind me and moving forward to the wonderful few weeks I have ahead of me. list of things to look forward to:
1. decorating the new house! (we are buying most of our stuff this morning and I'm dying to show you guys! I may or may not have a new, suede purple couch in my office now.)
2. a road trip to newport beach in two weeks with my girls, lauren and natalie. we are headed to the newport film festival. now if only I could find that perfect premiere dress already...
3. miss rene will be heading to tucson for a visit.
4. yet another road trip up to california for my cousin's wedding festivities.
see? there are many things to smile about.

on the the post. today I am happy/privileged/excited/exuberant and all sorts of other celebratory words to bring you my first mailbox mavens post! since I have spent the past month traveling all over and moving into the house, I haven't had time to put together any of my "maven swap attire". this first piece comes from the lovely tabitha of the fashion therapist. she is totally my kind of girl, and she actually lives in the city that I grew up in. oh hey chicago! I love looking at her blog/pictures because not only does she have fantastic style, but it reminds me of home. :)

now, have I mentioned that each article of clothing that we trade comes with its own little challenge? that is exactly the case, and its the most fun and unique part of this particular swap. its one thing to throw together an outfit the way you usually would, but this swap presents the process of getting dressed in another way. I loved that I really had to think about how to style this shirt so that was still "me", but worked for the challenge at the same time. the shirt that tabitha offered for the mavens is the above pictured gorgeous navy colored top with a funky gold chain print. the issued challenge?
make it nautical.
and so I did.

I paired it with my casual red skirt with pockets. when I think nautical I automatically think of the classic red/navy/white combo. lucky enough, it is blazing hot here in arizona so I was able to pull out the white wedges sans tights for a very summer type look.

and just to be silly, I had to add one of my favorite scarfs to the mix. my red and white "skull and crossbones" scarf. raise your hand if your remember a few years ago when EVERYTHING with a pirate association was considered cool? drink up me hearty jo ho... and all that nonsense.

I finished off the look with a white, beaded necklace, some white sunnies, and my go-to fedora. while we are at it, can we chat about how divine this lake is? this is directly across the street from my house. literally, takes me under a minute to get to where I am standing in these photos. the best part? when I open my front door everyday, this is my view. I am so thankful sometimes.

my hubby took these for me while we were out taking out evening walk with our two dogs. it was a beyond gorgeous night. nautical theme: accomplished.

when we returned to the house, I took some close up shots so that you could see the wondrous accessories for yourselves. I also wanted to try out my new accent wall in some photos. newly painted and bright red. love at first sight.

well ye mateys, that's all for today's post. make sure to come back everyday this week for another mailbox mavens post! there will be a new one each day!

until then... anchors up and smooth sailing.

xoxo